Josh Is In Charge
by jimeev3
Summary: Taylor and her brother Josh are taken in with quivering arms by Rick's group, but how long can it last until the fights start?


**Hey, it's my first published story, so go easy. Reviews are welcomed. Also, it's not finished yet, just a heads up.**

 **I own none of the walking dead franchise, except for the characters Josh, Taylor, Jesse, and Greg.**

* * *

Camping again, as determined by my older brother, Josh. The rest of us didn't really get a say in where we stayed the night. Josh was in charge since we'd voted about three months ago. He laid some loose rules, gave some orders, but mainly just decided where to sleep, and where to go next.

There were four of us in our group. One is my family, the others were people we found on the road. Josh is tall, about four inches taller than me, weighs about 200 pounds, has brown hair, and dark brown eyes, like mine. Greg is about my height of 5'7", skinny, has strawberry blond hair, and green eyes. Jesse is slightly taller than Josh, tanned skin, brown hair and eyes, and skinny; his body is oddly proportioned to where most of it is his legs. And finally Me, Taylor. I'm 5'7", kinda thin, I have short blonde hair, and dark brown eyes; I always kept my hair in an emo guys kinda style, until haircuts were no longer available, now it down to my neck.

Each of us did our own thing unless something needed to be done, like hunting, or scavenging, or killing the dead. I had books to read, Josh had things to plan and maps to organize, the other two did whatever. They were kinda wimps, and didn't talk much. They were together when we found them, and they were hurt, otherwise we probably wouldn't have taken them in. Josh and I have always been fairly good people to those who needed help. But if it was just people too useless to be able to do things themselves, we normally let them be.

We were packing up the next day when Josh, like he does normally, told us where we were going next. A small prison on the map that looked promising. This didn't sound like a good idea to me, seeing as how there could be surviving, murderous inmates living there, so I walked over to him and sat on his bedroll, in his way, so he would have to listen to what I have to say about it.

"You're in my way." He said as I sat down.

"Yes, that's the point." I responded.

"I know what you're gonna say, but I've thought it through," He said and started rolling up his maps, "There is probably a storage room we could pick at for a while and hold up. Wouldn't you like to just relax and not worry?"

"I would, but don't you think that other people might have had the same idea?" I strained.

"Yeah, I know," He sighed. "But maybe they had the same idea as you and decided not to mess with it?" Josh rebuked and turned back to me, "Now that we've talked can I pack up? You need to finish with your stuff anyway."

I stood up and moved to his side, "I'm ready to go, so hurry with your stuff, if we're going to get there before supper time." I joked and sat on my own rolled up bedroll, pulled on my hat, and waited for everyone else to be ready.

We'd been marching along all day in the woods, and I was starting to question Josh's sense of direction, but I waited another hour before I asked for a break. We stopped next to a fallen tree and he started making a fire to make lunch. I sat on the log behind him, "How much further, do you think, Josh?"

"A mile, probably two. Hard to say, since I don't have a protractor or a ruler." He said.

"That's not too bad," I said and took a drink from my canteen.

"Nope, but it would be better if it wasn't so hot." Josh exclaimed and wiped his eyebrow.

I handed him my water, "Here." He took it, drank some and handed it back. I screwed the lid and stood up, "I'll be back. Gotta take a piss."

"Don't go far." He warned.

I walked behind a thick tree about 50 feet away and peed. When I stood up again, I heard a shuffle coming from somewhere in front of me. I stared for a moment and, worried it might be a dead guy, pulled out my knife from it's holder on my belt. Slowly, I crept closer to where the sound came from originally, but I didn't hear anything unusual anymore, just the wind in the trees. I wasn't until I was about 20 yards from my tree that I heard another shuffle, this one more organized and not so much like someone dragging their foot. Feeling slightly calmer at the notion that it might be something edible, I moved more silently and carefully, dodging larger piles of leafs and moving closer to a very big tree ahead, where the sound came from.

I stopped about two yards from the tree and pulled a homemade, handheld net from my bag, about four square feet big. I held it up and eased closer, jumping around it. What was there was not a rabbit as I had thought, but a man wielding a crossbow and pointing it at me. I fell back and yelled Josh's name and guarding my face, since I was too terrified to stand, move, or even open my eyes. I heard footsteps coming my way, kicking leaves. Then, what seemed like half a minute later but was probably mere seconds, some one strong forced me to stand by pulling my arm and wrapped his arm around my neck and held me there. I still couldn't open my eyes but I tried squirming, but that only made the man's grip on me tighter.

I could hear Josh's wavering voice, "Please, just let her go. You can have anything you want. Take all our stuff." Josh was bigger than the man, I could tell because I could feel his chin on my head. He could probably fight the man easily, but he probably had a knife or something to me.

"I don't want yer shit, I want ya ta get the hell outta here," The man said.

"We are. We only stopped for a break," Josh said, then paused a second, "Please, she's my only family."

At that, the man's grip loosened some, "Where were you headed?" The man asked calmly, but still in a threatening tone.

"A prison, not far from here. It's on the maps. Here." There was more leaf shuffling, going the other way.

"Move," The man said and gently shoved me forward. I found my nerve and opened my eyes, moving as fast as the man wanted.

Josh was searching through some maps and the man's crossbow was aimed at Josh, "Don't hurt him," I pleaded, "Please."

"I ain't gonna, not shut up." The man said.

As we got close, Josh found the right map, "See? The prison is here, just off the highway." He pointed to a spot on the map.

The man's voice got a little calmer, "What do ya expect ta find there?"

"We hope that there's food and shelter from the dead." Josh explained.

I felt a grumble in the man's chest, "Lady, I'ma let you go, and you best not try nothin'."

I loosened the grip on his arm I didn't realize I had, "Okay, I promise." The man grabbed the shoulder closest to his hand and flung me over to Josh, who caught me, but not soon enough. So instead we both fell to the ground.

"Now, I have a group at the prison. And if you wanna join I've got some questions for you," The man said seriously. I took a second to look around for Greg and Jesse but they were nowhere to be seen, they probably skated as soon as things started happening. Josh probably nodded, because the man started talking again "How many Walkers have you killed?" He asked first.

"You mean dead people? At least 50." Josh answered.

"You?" The man asked me.

"At least 25."

"How many people have you killed?" The man asked, secondly.

"None," Josh said.

"One," I said with shame and honesty.

"Why?" He asked lastly.

"She was trying to push me out of a window surrounded by the dead." I justified.

The man nodded slightly, "I'll have Rick and Hershel look at cha. Git yer stuff."

"Rick and Hershel?" Josh asked.

"Our leader and his adviser, they're good people." He said and sat on the fallen tree.

"What's your name?" I risked the question.

"Daryl."


End file.
